Volvo Series Endures As A Performance Gem

THE VOLVO 240 has changed for 1986, but you'll have to look hard to notice. That's fine with the Swedish carmaker, which doesn't believe in change for the sake of change, or for sales appeal.

The 240 series has been slowly evolving over a dozen years, and Volvos that resemble the 240 entered production two decades ago. So if you look at the 1986 240 DL and don't notice that the grille is lower or that the hood, rear deck lid and front spoiler have changed a bit, that's understandable.

You might more readily notice that Volvo's entry-level car now sports huge European-styled flush-mounted headlamps and that aerodynamic-looking plastic covers adorn its wheels. You might also notice that a wide vinyl molding protects the lower body from stone damage.

And you're sure to notice that the price is still fairly hefty. The test DL, provided by The Volvo Store in Winter Park, was stickered at $16,240, which might seem large for a boxy family sedan with a modest interior.

If, however, you keep the car for 15 years or more, as some Volvo owners have, $16,000 likely will seem like a pittance in the year 2001.

What keeps a Volvo 240 alive for so long? Certainly a great deal of credit must go to the buyers who love these ugly duckling machines that so often age into swans of endurance. Then, of course, there is the car itself: forthright, upright and, evidently, built right.

Propelling the 240 DL is a four-cylinder engine of 2.3 liters displacement. Fed by electronic fuel injection and producing 114 horsepower, this motor moved the test car unerringly along in city traffic and kept it easily up with the flow on the open road.

Equipped with a four-speed automatic that featured push-button overdrive on the side of the shift knob, the test car accelerated strongly throughout its range, with a moderate amount of engine noise and vibration under heavy throttle.

However ungraceful the 240 might appear on initial inspection, it's a ballerina of the asphalt. Its coil-spring suspension, with MacPherson struts at front and a live axle at rear, puts the 2,959-pound car over rough spots with poise and around corners with agility.

Stabilizer bars at both ends of the car help to keep it in trim, and power-assisted rack-and-pinion steering provides precise guidance. Stopping is by power-assisted four-wheel disc brakes, a longtime Volvo plus.

I said the grille is lower. It's also black, with the familiar diagonal bar and Volvo badge at center. This grillework is in attractive contrast to the big, rectangular halogen headlights with their fancy-faceted plastic lenses.

These wide-awake lights replace the quad lights of past years and, of all alterations to the DL, serve notice that it's a new model.

The test machine was painted a deep, durable-looking blue-green metallic with clear finishing coat. The paint was a $320 extra that perked up the 240's square lines considerably.

Inside, the test car was done up in shades of yellow-tan (beige, Volvo calls it), with a wide-wale, velour-type cloth on the front buckets and the rear bench. This tan-beige was in decided contrast to the exterior -- and to the white plastic headliner -- and I'm not sure I liked it. But the interior appears serviceable in any case.

It's also roomy and comfortable. The bucket seats were firm, accommodating and mechanically multiadjustable. They could use more body- holding contour, but they have novel headrests of a barred, open design. The headrests can be electrically heated in cold weather at the press of two switches on the center console.

The back seat is built for three, but its center back doubles as a folding armrest and is uncomfortably firm.

Volvophiles had a nasty scare a few years back when the updated 760 models appeared and again, later, when the 740 models arrived. They feared their beloved 240 would fade away like an old love, never to return. Their fear has been groundless -- so far.

Still newer Volvos loom on the horizon, but the 240 endures, so it would seem, forever.